In what sounds like a fun offering, Chicago’s first full-service board game café will open in January and there are also two escape rooms.
The creators of Cards Against Humanity behind the enterprise, where board game teachers will help you pick the right game for your group from hundreds on offer.
The 14,000-square-foot space will be located on North Milwaukee Ave. The café will feature a full bar and an extensive dinner menu inspired by markets and sidewalk cafés where locals might gather to play games in Spain, Vietnam, and Mexico. Reservations include access to the building’s vault, which has been converted into a library for games. Guests of all ages can play classics like Scrabble, Monopoly and Cards Against Humanity, or learn new games created by indie developers from all over the world.
“I think part of the reason board games are having a renaissance right now is that people are really atomized and alienated and lonely,” says Cards Against Humanity co-creator, Max Temkin. “We’ve been making games for almost ten years now, and we’ve seen that games, food and theater have an incredible capacity to bring people together and create community. It has been our dream for a long time to do a really ambitious version of a game café and share it with people. We hope it doesn’t fail in an embarrassing fashion.”
Guests can also reserve spots in two theatrical escapes housed in the basement of the café - The Last Defender and Nova to Lodestar. They are owned and operated by The House Theatre of Chicago, long-time creative collaborators and friends of Cards Against Humanity, who were instrumental in designing and building the game café.
For further information on the Chicago Board Game Café, please see here.
